1. BackgroundWith the growth of the Internet, e-mail has become an important form of communication between people, and is used widely in areas such as business, e-commerce, and the dissemination of information.

On the other hand, there have also been cases where e-mail has been abused and employed in ways that are offensive to public order and morality. Junk mail is an indication of such problems. Junk mail may range from e-mails that involve the theft of the recipient’s personal information, to those that make fraudulent use of the e-mail addresses of others, consequently destroying the trust of the user in question. These e-mails cause great damage to users and businesses. As such, enhancing junk mail countermeasures has become a pressing issue for businesses.

Against this background, among the various types of junk mail countermeasure technologies that are being adopted, domain authentication technology was developed as a framework that allows for the determination of the sender’s identity. Domain authentication technology refers to a technology that certifies that the sender domain of an e-mail is legitimate, and facilitates the detection of mail address fraud by the sender. Much junk mail consists of spoofs that masquerade under a legitimate sender’s e-mail address. By making active use of domain authentication technology, it would be possible to distinguish between such fraudulent e-mails and e-mails sent from legitimate sources, thereby eliminating identity-theft junk mail.

Even among such sender domain technologies, DKIM has garnered particular attention. DKIM is a technology characterized by its ability to detect not only e-mail address forgery, but also any falsifications of the e-mail. It has been accredited as an Internet Standard by the international standardization body—Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

Through the establishment of the Japan DKIM Working Group, we aim to enhance cooperation among business operators, advance the development and promulgation of DKIM, and contribute to the development of a healthy Internet environment.

3. Aims of activities・To develop and promulgate DKIM・To enhance cooperation among business operators in order to ensure a safe electronic mail environment

4. Contents of activities・Standardization of adoption formatTo draw up recommendations for the adoption of DKIM・Implementation of promotional activitiesTo work together and promote the adoption of DKIM to business operators・Disclosure of information, such as information on effectivenessTo release information such as actual statistics on DKIM adoption